Reading and Paying Bills with a Free Worksheet

Money, money, money, money, monnnnnney...

So most of my students probably won't have to pay bills, but who knows maybe some of them will. Even if they never pay a bill in their life I figure it's good to know what's going on - because someone in their life is paying for all the things they have. So with this activity, I expect that my students will know what a bill is, the things we have to pay for (electricity, phones, internet, etc), and that money is need to pay for things - all good concepts for better understanding life. And if they can actually learn how to pay a bill on their own, even better!

So technically, I use this activity and worksheet in our math class, but we use a lot of reading skills as well, so it can totally be for language arts too. I give my students a bill - I don't simplify them at all but will highlight some of the key info for some students (you can find a variety of bills to use with a simple google search) - and the fun begins!!
We go over this many times as a class and we look for basic information such as due date, amount due, account number, company name, and address. This worksheet has all these items listed so students can record them as they find them, as well as address an envelope (I know you don't actually have to address the envelope when paying a bill, but it's a good skill to have!) and write out a check. I also project this worksheet right onto my whiteboard so I can fill in the worksheet along with them.

When writing a check I obviously have students sign their name...and one time I wrote "your name" on the signature line up on my whiteboard as an example. Can you see where this is going? :) Definitely had two students write "your name" on their paper...lol I love my students!

And now for part 2 of this post: I saw this linky party at A Turn to Learn and HAD to join! The theme is funny things your students said this week. Well, since I didn't see any students these week (Christmas break, yay!!!), I'll share one of my favorites that happened last year:
What Did They Say!?

Student: Mrs. Holtrop, are you pregnant?
Me: (shocked) Um, no. Why do you ask?
Student: Well, uh, don't those things take about nine months and you've been married for... (student starts counting on his fingers)
Me: Uhhh, that's not quite how it works.
Student: Wait, but I thought that once you...
Me: (Quickly interrupting) Nope and, um, what are you working on, oh yes let's work on math.

:) Wish you could have been there. Head over to A Turn to Learn and link up - I love this idea for a linky party and will love to read what your students have said!

3 comments

  1. Love your "bill" activity!

    Thanks for linking up! I had a similar thing happen when I got married last summer. I came back in September and at least 10 previous students came up to me and said "Are you having a baby now?" And I said "No, why?" And the each said something to the effect of "Well you're married now, isn't that why people get married?" I was like "What!?"

    These kids are too much!

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  2. Your bill activity is great, I'll be sharing this with another teacher in my building that works with the high school ED students. Love the comment- my students always wonder why my sons would give up their Legos or I Spy books for the classroom, my sons are 20 and 22 years old!!I'm also following you now!

    Mary

    Teaching Special Kids

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  3. Very cute story:) Thank you for sharing!
    http://primaryclassroomsareoceansoffun.blogspot.com/2013/01/what-did-they-say-wednesday.html

    ReplyDelete

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